Mississippi Blues Recap

Time for the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon recap!  This was a very fun race for me because I got to go on a girls' trip with 3 of my running friends to Jackson, Mississippi!  We left on Friday, January 9 at around 12:30 in the afternoon.  Pam was driving, Lauren, Katie M. and then me.  We arrived at our hotel at the Marriott around 3:30 or so, checked in, and brought our things to up to the room.  We left and starting walking to the expo.  We walked a few blocks in the wrong direction which was okay because I had no idea where we were going!  We turned around and started going the right way and could see starting and finish line signs.  We saw a big screen display in front of the Jackson Convention Complex that said "Mississippi Blues Marathon January 10, 2015."  We kept waiting for the sign to change so we could take a picture of it.  It was so funny all of us had our phones out ready to snap a picture, but it would not change back!  It finally did though!

We walked inside the complex, signed a waver and found our name and bib number on a very large board. We headed upstairs on an escalator to collect our packets.  We got our numbers, we got our vest....wait what?!  No T-shirt? Aw man!  I had seen a post from the Mississippi Blues page that had pictures of their T-shirts.  We all were asking about shirts and the volunteers said they were sold out. Gasp!  I didn't have anything to packed to wear home because I always wear my race shirt home.  I wasn't sure of what to do with the vest.  I bought a hat and some socks and then spent $37 on a shirt that said "Would you mess with a woman who runs 13.1 miles for fun?"  Oh dear.  That's not the type of shirts I like.  That was all I could find in my size. I think I bought a 13.1 stick on tattoo also...not real sure where that is LOL.   Needless to say, we were all a little disappointed when we left the expo, but we found someone to take our picture in front of the starting line sign!

We got back to the room a little after 5 and plans were to meet Liz Ferro in the lobby at 5:40 for dinner at the Parlor Market.  We had reservations there at 6.  Liz is the CEO and founder of Girls With Sole, a Non-Profit organization that provides free fitness and wellness programs to girls who are at-risk or have experienced abuse of any kind.  There was an article in this month's Runner's World Magazine about Liz and her work with Girls With Sole!  We were all so excited to meet her.  Lauren was our connection to Liz.  Lauren had raised money for Girls With Sole so she and Liz were Facebook friends meeting in person!  So we met Liz in the lobby and Lauren and introduced ourselves.  We headed out of the hotel in the cold, dark night in downtown Jackson.  We chatted on the way and arrived at Parlor Market in no time.  The restaurant was really nice.  It was dark with candlelight on the tables.  Our table was close to the bar and the kitchen.  We could see the chefs preparing the food and we were starving!  This particular restaurant served duck and quail which I am sure is wonderful, but the eve before a big race the majority of us usually ate pasta.  Our waiter said they had pasta with tomato alfredo and duck which sounded okay to me.  My friends asked if we could possibly have chicken in our pasta instead of duck and the waiter left to go check.  We asked Liz what she ate before race day and she told us a hamburger.  She said it was always something she could eat that she knew wouldn't make her sick.  So when the waiter returned and told us there was rabbit in the pasta, we all ordered a hamburger except for Lauren.  I think she had salmon.  We talked while we waited for our food and I really enjoyed hearing Liz's stories about her Ironman races and that she had been running for 25 years.  The Mississippi Blues Marathon would be her 40th marathon and she was running 50 states for Girls With Sole and Mississippi was number 26!  So amazing!  She had also written a book called "Finish Line Feeling" and had brought Lauren a copy.  I ordered it off of Amazon at the table.  I know, I know, but I love books!  Liz was so nice and funny, but she asked us questions too, like how did we all meet each other and how many kids did we have.  We laughed a lot, but we told her personal things that either had happened or things that were going on in our lives at this particular time.  She inspired me so much that night and I am so happy I got to meet her!  We got our hamburgers (they were HUGE) and a basket of fries.  We were starving and the burger was wonderful.  After we finished eating we talked a little more and I asked the waiter to take our picture.  We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

I didn't sleep much that night, but before I knew it was 5 AM and time to get ready for race day!! I was so excited!  We all got dressed and ate our prerace food.  We decided to wait as long as we could to head to the starting line since it was 20 degrees outside.  The four of us headed down the the lobby a little after 6:30 all bundled up in our tights, hats, gloves, and jackets.  There were so many runners waiting in the lobby!  We got someone to take our picture and we headed out into the cold, eating our gels (GU or goo).  We made it to the starting line around 6:50 so we only had to wait 10 minutes for the race to start.

 There were no corrals like in Memphis, but there were pacers holding up there signs.  We huddled together taking pictures and trying our best to keep warm.

 Next thing I knew we sang the National Anthem and it was time to run!  I had on a big thick sweatshirt jacket which I didn't really want to throw away, but I had cleaned out my closet recently and didn't leave myself any old jackets.  I shed my nice Nike jacket after the first mile.  It was still pretty cold though even after I had "warmed up" a mile.  I had gloves on, but since I was holding my water bottle, my right hand was freezing.  I would have to carry it in my left hand to give my right hand a break. I had on a headband to cover my ears and a hat, two shirts, running tights and compression socks.  I wasn't too cold and never got hot at all.  My water bottle eventually accumulated ice on it.  Now that's cold.  The first part of the race wasn't too bad, but there were hills from start to finish.  I need to run it again so I can count them!  I would slowly run up the hill and run at normal speed downhill.  I wanted to hold an 11 minute pace as long as I could, but that lasted only a little over 4 miles.  Pam and I would run together off and on and she would talk to me, but with these new headphones, I couldn't hear what she was saying!  There is a button you can press to turn the music down, but since I had gloves on, I couldn't turn it down.  I just smiled and nodded.  One time, I thought she said it was relaxing to run with me. Naw, she hadn't said that lol!  I think maybe one time she said I would be a good pacer (is that right Pam?).  After 4 miles, I had to start walking uphill.  I knew if I tried to be a hero and run up all of them, that I would be worn out at the end.  Pam and I stuck together and we walked up hill and ran downhill and ran the flat parts. We high fived a lot of people and kids and I tried my best to pant out "thank you" to the volunteers.  We made it to mile 7 before we knew it and we were running by Interstate 55.  

Miles 7-9 were the best part of the race because it seemed flat.. for a little longer to give us a break.  Mile 9 was one of my fastest miles at 10:58!  Then I start slowing down again because there were lots of hills from miles 10-12.  My music stopped at mile 11 and I didn't feel like getting my phone out of the pocket of my water bottle.  I took my headphones out and I had passed a couple of volunteers when I heard a lady shout from behind me "I s### my pants!"  I don't know if she was yelling that to a volunteer but I didn't look back.  I just started laughing hysterically and Pam turned around and said "huh?"  She had not heard her, but I couldn't stop laughing.  I'll be honest, I laughed a lot during this race.  I had to laugh because it was such a hard race, I mean, one hill after another!  We all knew it would be tough, but wow!  Pam and I really picked up our pace after mile 12 and finished the last 1.2 miles at 10:29 pace.  Yay!  We had made it and were so happy to be finished!  We headed to the food tent after getting our medals and metal wraps or whatever they're called.  I didn't get on at St. Jude and when I got one at the Blues it fell, so I didn't keep it.  Ah well, it didn't take long for me to start getting cold again.  We went to the food tent and I ate a piece of pizza and a banana. We had our picture taken with our new awesome bling and headed back to the hotel room.

 Katie M. had finished in 2 hours 5 minutes, Lauren had a PR of 2 hours 18 minutes and Pam and I had finished in 2 hours 30 minutes.  I was super happy about my time and had decided before this race that I would run it for fun and not overdo it.  Pam and Katie ran the First Light Half Marathon the next day for the back to back challenge!  How awesome is that?
I know I always say this, but this was one of my favorite half marathons.  I think all of my half marathons are my favorite!  Each one has been different and a new experience.  I learn something new at each race.  I am itching to sign up for another one soon because I feel like if I can run the Mississippi Blues, then I can run anywhere!  Having a girls' trip was super fun and I hope we get to do it again one day!